Archive for the ‘VOICING my THOUGHTs’ Category

Given how busy we are/tend to be, you would have found yourself in one of the following situations.

I was right there and I forgot to ……
I am supposed to buy/inquire about some product I’m planning on buying and I promised myself that next time I am anywhere near that place I will do it. Well guess what, I forgot; only to be reminded way after I was away from that place. And now its late to go back, let me do it another time.

I was right there and I didn’t know about ……
I am a big fan of ‘so n so’ line of clothing [who have a store near by]. But I’m kinda low on GREEN as of now, will buy it if there is any good sale on it. I will keep checking their website and ads on newspaper for those deals until then. Fast-Forward a couple of weeks. I hear my friends/peers/neighbors talking about their recent shopping experience and how great the sale on ‘so n so’ was. Huh ? OMG I wasn’t aware of that sale, can’t believe I missed it.

I’m feeling lonely here in this new place, I wish I could find some company / a Date ……
I’m in this totally new place, I don’t know anyone here. I came alone to this club thinking I could socialize and maybe find someone special, but it doesn’t seem to be going as planned. I can see so many people here but I am feeling shy and do not know how to approach nor am I aware as to who is willing to be approached.Meanwhile just a few clubs down the road. A young single lady engaged in the same monologue with herself.

In the 3rd scenario, is there a way to connect the both of them together ? Well technology seems to have the potential to play cupid. How ? Read on.

The mobile devices i.e PDAs, Smartphones etc of the contemporary world are equipped with GPS functionality, WiFi / 3G connectivity acting as a premise to a whole new way of Advertising/Communication/Social Networking. Below is an account of my ideas on how we can overcome each of the above described scenarios [assuming that all these functionalities are enabled all the time]

Location-aware Reminders
You start the application on your Mobile Phone/Smartphone. You start creating a Reminder, but unlike any other reminders we are so familiar with, you DO NOT specify the date/time to alert you. Instead you are taken to a map where you are prompted to mark a point-of-interest [POI] & specify the desirable radius around the same. What this basically means is that, you are telling the system to remind you when you are within the specified radius of your POI.For example
POI : Social Security Office, Radius : 500 meters , Reminder : Collect SSN card
What this translates to is ‘ Remind me to Collect SSN card when I am within 500 meters of Social Security Office ‘.

Location-aware AdvertisingFrom a user’s perspective
You start the application on your mobile Phone/Smartphone. You specify what ads you are interested in, so that you can recieve notifications related to those. The application runs in the background and is always Aware of your location. You go shopping to a mall, DING! You are prompted of a discount sale that is going on right now at one of your favorite stores. You can choose to act on it by reading more information about the ad or you can just delete/ignore it. If your are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of ads on the air, then you have an option to be more specific.From the advertiser’s perspective
If you are the owner of a store and want to AIR location-aware ads to people who subscribe to it, you have to 1st register on the system. The registration is completed after a few authentication checks and you are provided with an account. Using this account you can login to the system [which is a web application] and post ads. You can post ads which are limited in the amount of information permissible, like max no of characters, and an option to specify the duration of the ad. You are charged a minor fee for posting each ad, thus acting as revenue for the system.

Insta-Date / I-Stand-Alone
You login to the system after registration, which involves certain authentication checks, and then post your profile for others to view. You have the option to make your profile visible to only your friends or those kinds you are interested in meeting.
In the previously explained scenario all they have to do is register on the system and set their status as ‘ Available ‘. Using the location-aware capabilities on the smartphone, the system shows the list of all the ‘Available’ people to the user. He can go on and filter it based on a few criteria like sex, age, ethnicity etc. He looks that the other lady [as mentioned above] is also willing to meet new people. He sends her an invite to start communicating/chatting. She receives the request, she checks his profile then has an option to start a dialog or just ignore him.

Well I guess the technology just played cupid for the both of them.

These are just a few of the ideas that I have engendered, there are many more ideas which can stem outta these. Well come to think of it there might already be systems of these kind or having some flavor of it, but this never stops me from ‘DREAMING ON’. I am planning to start creating these systems myself on Google Android, just hoping for the best.

Having said all these I can confidently say that the future of Location-aware services is looking very promising, not to forget the Cool-Factor involved. Well what can I say, this is just the beginning of a new era of communication …

Mobile phones were ‘ Merely a luxury ‘ a decade ago, but now the mobile revolution has swept across the globe making it an obvious necessity in the contemporary world. Below is a small account of what I believe the characteristics of future mobile phone/smartphone are going to be.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID)
RFID is the use of an object (typically referred to as an RFID tag) applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves.
The future mobile phone will each have an embedded RFID chip which is unique to the device just like the IMEI number.
So what are its potential uses in our everyday life ?

Authentication of a Ticketed entry
You have purchased a ticket to a play/movie through the internet. While you were buying it the system had prompted you with an option to tag your ticket with the RFID feature on your mobile phone. If you accepted it, then after a few authentication steps you have finally tagged your mobile phone to the ticket you have bought. Now you go the venue of the event and enter a gated entry which is equipped with an RFID scanner. You just walk through the scanner, it identifies your purchase and opens the gate.
Are you a frequent Metro user ? Have your mobile phone’s RFID with Metro currency. So that everytime you take the Metro you don’t have to search for cash. All you have to do is just walk through the turnstile equipped with an RFID scanner to gain entry. This technology is already been in practice but not introduced to the mobile counterparts, check these links RFID to Ride N.Y. Subways, Soccer Fans Use RFID Cards to Gain Admission and Buy Food and check for more on RFIDJournal.com

Replacement for Currency cards
Have the RFID embedded in your Mobile phone tagged to your bank account. Use it just like you use a credit/debit card at outlets which are equipped with RFID scanners to make purchases.

Retrieval of Lost Mobile phone
All the above features would certainly provoke you to think about the possibilities of your mobile phone being stolen and misused. Well just report that your mobile phone is stolen to the system, so if the culprit next time gets scanned by one of the RFID scanner it notifies the authorities by raising an alarm immediately and he can be apprehended ensuring the safety of your phone & identity.

Embedded Biometric Scanners
I am sure by now you would have come across some form of Biometric scanner in your daily life, be it a Finger-print scanner / Iris scanner / Facial recognition / Hand scanner / Voice recognition. The most common among those would surely have to be the Finger-print scanner, which is being widely used for authentication & identification purposes. Just as a reminder of how technology is advancing, I have a Finger-print scanner embedded in my laptop. The best part of it is that I no longer have to type in the username/password everytime I want to login [ which can get really annoying at times esp for people who are as lazy as I am ] to my accounts which could be an email/messenger/any password protected websites. Just a swipe of my finger, checks if authentic user then based on the website/app I’m running looks up the previously stored username & password and BHAM I’m logged in. How cool is that ?

Well now just image the same for a mobile phone.

Embedded Finger-Print scanner
A small finger print scanned is embedded into the face of your mobile phone. This can be used to authenticate entry into your mobile phone or used to authenticate other protected applications.

Facial Recognition / Iris Scanner
A camera mounted on the face of your mobile phone could act as a means to authenticate entry into protected applications. This feature can also be used by law enforcement officers to identify criminals on the fly.
This is pretty much a software implementation, advanced image processing, rather than hardware like the ones discussed above. There are advanced in this field already by a company called Neven Vision, which was a worldwide leader in the field of image recognition. The company, founded by Dr. Hartmut Neven, had its headquarters in Santa Monica, California and offices in Japan, Germany and the U.K. Google has bought this company and we can expect these technologies hitting the mainstream in the near future. For more info on Neven Vision check out these links Google and Neven Vision , Presentation by Neven Vision

Solar Powered battery backup
One of the most frustrating things about mobile phones is the battery backup on most of the devices. The more features the mobile phone have, like GPS/Radio/Accelerometer/WiFi enabled, the more battery consumption leading to the frustration of not using the phone to its full potential ALL the time. Well this frustration can be reduced if not get completely rid off, by embedding solar cells in the phone which can charge whilst we carry on with our daily life.

All of the above visions are very plausible considering the recent advancements in the Mobile technologies. Many of the discussed visions might already been in development/practice, these are just my visions of what the NEAR future is going to be. It is going to more than just a Phone and evidently more than just a Luxury, an acquired necessity. It is going to be an integral part of our life, so that leads to the question, Are we going to be ‘ Carrying it ‘ or ‘ Wearing it ‘ ?. Well see for yourself what the future has in store for us according to the visions of Nokia and Cambridge Nanoscience Center, Morph concept.

The future of Mobile technologies is looking very promising. I can’t wait to see it and be a part of it.

Wondering who/what I am talking about ? Take a guess …
Its Marilyn Manson, who I feel is one of the most misunderstood artist of all time. I myself had a prejudicial image of him and his music which is very evident cause of his weird n creepy sense of style which cannot go unnoticed; clad in black, black lipstick n nails, mascara, clown make-up, fear inducing ghostly eyes [which btw is nothing but contact lens ].

I was introduced to his music very recently when the movie Max Payne was released starring Mark Wahlberg, which is based off of the hit computer game by the same name. The main theme song of that movie happened to be a track by Marilyn Manson – If I was your vampire. The tune of that song really caught on to me proving very addictive, which lead me to start venturing into the musical realms of Manson. As I started to listen to his famous numbers I could sense a Manson Fan in me emerging out of the shadows, creeping out even. Most of his songs are based on Death, portraying Atheistic philosophies which is why I guess the media has condemned his music and has labeled his band ‘Antichrist’ in nature.

The etymology of his name ? Marilyn – as in Marilyn Monroe the American actress, singer, model and sex symbol and Manson – as in Charles Manson the convicted murderer.

Me being a musical lover and a musician myself, I don’t give a damn about the religious or social implications of any song or music. For me as long as the tune is catchy and I like it its great , else just move on to the next track don’t judge the person. Everyone has a way of expressing their own beliefs, after all its an ART form which is meant to be expressive and idiosyncratic. Anyways I feel its the society/incapable politicians/the media who are just looking, searching for people r faces to blame as being the cause for all that is going wrong in the contemporary world. I have listened to most of his songs now and in no song does he provoke/patronize violence, just that the lyrics pretty much gives a voice to all that is happening; the Bitter truth one might say. Lately I have been reading and listening to his interviews and stuffs, have to say I was very impressed by him who is pretty much a very knowledgeable person. He is known for his abstract paintings as well. After one listens to him speak you would wonder if its the same guy whom a minute ago you had judged as EVIL or dumb or whatever. If you are interested just listen to the following interview by Micheal Moore which is aired in the movie ‘Bowling for Columbine’.

Here’s a list of Marilyn Manson’s songs which I loved, ignoring the order.

Heart Shaped Glasses

Sweet Dreams

The Beautiful People

Antichrist Superstar

Coma White

The Nobodies

Evidence

Resident Evil Main Theme

Angel with scabbed wings

If I was your Vampire

Tainted Love

Having said all this there still might be people who would judge him otherwise or for that matter judge me for enjoying his music, quite frankly I don’t give a damn. So am I an Atheist ? For the record, YES I am. And in noway was I influenced/changed by Marilyn Manson, o please. I am the kinda person who believes in thyself, a pragmatic person. I find it not so convincing to just sit and pray for some divine intervention to grant me a wish / solve my existing problem without me having to do nothing. As a matter of fact I was an Atheist since a long time back, owing to experiences in my life which proved over and over again that

Who & What we are now, is an obvious result of the DECISIONS that we have taken todate.

There you have it, the Antichrist Superstar.

Marilyn Monroe wasn’t even her real name, Charles Manson isn’t his real name, and now, I’m taking that to be my real name. But what’s real? You can’t find the truth, you just pick the lie you like the best.

hmmmm … me and blogging ???
There’s something which was way beyond even my wildest dreams, but anyways HERE I AM.

Gotta confess though that life has a weird way of making you do things u had never imagined. As the saying goes

” NOTHING is CONSTANT , except for CHANGE “

My first ever blog posting, this being a direct result of me watching my sister-in-law, a doc, getting into blogging recently http://thecuckooscall.blogspot.com/ , http://aftermd.blogspot.com/ . Come to think of it, she and my brother are one of the few most influential ppl in my life thus far who have inspired me, instilled in me a need to wanna succeed no-matter what the field. Both of them being Post-Grad holders in medicine [ wow thats great, phew … i know 🙂 ] , have been one of the reasons 4 me to pursue my higher studies. Having said that a bit of introduction bout myself, im pursing my master’s degree in computer science [ oooo no, not another CS GEEK and a grad student ?? … ‘ can any1 BE more DIFFERENT ‘ ] , here at San Diego, California.

Well this, my first blog posting ie, acts as a perfect premise for me 2 exercise my witty-saying-muscle 😉 …
You might have heard about these 2 sayings …
” There is always a first time for everything ” and ” First step is always the hardest ” …
Taking these 2 into consideration I came up with a new 1 myself, not sure if this already exists , what the hell who cares … Here’s my version …

” Anything you do for the 1st time, will ALWAYS be HARD “

Some of u might be thinking r saying , well I did this thing once 4 the very first time and it was EASY. Then in my view the corollary to the about statement/witty-saying would be …

” If you did something for the 1st time and you felt it was EASY / EASIER than you had anticipated , then it most probably wasn’t the RIGHT WAY of doing that very thing ” …